Answering the Call to a Great Commission Resurgence
by Daniel L. Akin Vol. XXI, No. 7, September 2008
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
In June 1985 Southern Baptists gathered in Dallas, Texas. More than 45,000 messengers met as the "Battle for the Bible" reached a feverish pitch. On Monday night prior to the Convention's two day meeting, Dr. W.A. Criswell closed out the Pastors Conference. The title of his address: "Whether We Live or Die.” He knew our denomination was at a crossroads and that the decisions we would make would chart our course in the years ahead. He was convinced that we had before us two options: one road would lead to life and usefulness for the Kingdom of God. The other would lead to decline and eventually death. Much was on the line.
The dawn of a new century confronts the Church of Jesus Christ with significant new challenges. Southern Baptists, in particular, have entered a zone of generational transition that is exciting, but also uncertain. The death of Adrian Rogers is, in my judgment, the symbolic moment that signaled a new day in terms of leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention. There is a great need in our day for godly men who can lead us to glorify God, build the Church, and evangelize the nations. We need men of character and substance, vision and wisdom, humility and conviction. We desperately need leaders who can guide us and challenge us.
I am convinced we need men with a vision for what can be called "A Great Commission Resurgence:' Building on the "Conservative Resurgence" that was initiated in 1979, I believe the time has come for us to focus on the great task the Lord Jesus left us as He ascended back into heaven (Matthew 28: 16-20jActs 1:8).
A true and genuine Great Commission Resurgence will, of necessity, be wed to a strong and healthy theology. Such a theology will have definite and non-negotiable parameters. However, it will avoid a suffocating system that paralyzes our passion to be aggressive in our personal witness and take the gospel to the nations.
In this context, I want to raise and attempt to answer two questions: 1) Why should we come together in a Great Commission Resurgence? 2) How can we come together in a Great Commission Resurgence?
I believe there are a number of compelling reasons why we should be able to come together in a Great Commission Resurgence. Let me make seven observations.
1. We are in agreement as to a common Confession of Faith to guide us, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. This statement is not perfect nor is it exhaustive. However, it is sufficient to provide a theological consensus for our cooperation in obeying the Great Commission.
2. We are in agreement on the inerrancy, infallibility, and sufficiency of the Bible. Though the precise terms of "inerrancy" and "infallibility" do not appear in Article I on "the Scriptures,” the affirmation that "all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy" equates to the same. Now some would say the battle for the Bible has been won and it is time to move on. I would sound a word of warning. The battle over the Word of God did not begin in 1979, it started in the Garden of Eden. The battle for biblical authority will never be completely and finally won until Jesus returns again.
3. We are in agreement on the necessity of a regenerate church. Historically a regenerate church has always been a characteristic of Baptist theology, and it is evident we have some serious work to do in this area. However, let us lead the way in educating our people to think more biblically about this vital doctrine. Let's shepherd them in the right theological direction.
4. We are in agreement on the exclusivity of the gospel. We are bound by the witness of Jesus (John 14:6), Peter (Acts 4:12) and Paul (I Tim. 2:5). It is our agreement on this theological tenet that should serve as a major motivation for a revived devotion to the Great Commission. People are lost, eternally lost, without Christ. And, our Lord came, by His own confession, "to seek and save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10). Charles Spurgeon says, "Someone asked will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we – who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not – can be saved:'
5. We are in agreement on the sinfulness and lostness of humanity apart from Christ. We are sinners both by nature and by choice. All aspects of our being are infected with the disease of sin. As a result no one seeks after God apart from the initiating work of the Holy Spirit.
6. We are in agreement that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Salvation is a free gift in which human works play no part. In our doctrine of salvation, we start with God and not man. We all agree on this. The Bible affirms that salvation is from the Lord (Jonah 2:9) and that by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift – not from works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Bible teaches that salvation is God's work. He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He takes the initiative. He is the true Seeker! And yet the Bible also teaches that we must respond and that we are responsible to repent and exercise faith in Christ. There is a clear biblical balance that must be maintained.
Together we can confess that the Bible teaches that God predestines and elects persons to salvation, but that He does so in such a way as to do no violence to their freewill and responsibility to repent from sin and believe the Gospel. Is there a tension here? Yes. Is there divine mystery? Absolutely! (Romans 11:33).
7. We are in agreement that the Great Commission is a divinely mandated assignment given to the Church by the Lord Jesus and that it is a task we are to give ourselves until the end of the age. The modern missionary movement was launched by a Baptist. His name was William Carey. Like our forefather, we must not neglect Christ's command, disobey his last words, and miss the promised blessing that attends all who take up the holy assignment of getting the gospel to the nations.
Let me move to address the second question we must consider: How can we come together in a Great Commission Resurgence? I have five propositions for us to think about.
1. We need a sound theology, not a soft theology or a straight-jacket theology. Our agreement on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is an asset, not a weakness. It is a plus and not a minus.
Our Confession is a solid foundation for a sound theology that avoids the pitfalls and quicksand of a straight-jacket theology. Do we want, do we need, a theology that rules "out of bounds" open theism, universalism and inclusivism, faulty perspectives on the atonement, gender-role confusion, works salvation, apostasy of true believers, infant baptism and non-congregational ecclesiologies? Yes we do.
On the other hand, we must also be on guard against a straight-jacket theology that would bind us and potentially suffocate us. I have Calvinist friends who say they hope and pray for the day when all of our seminaries have presidents and faculties that are 5-point Calvinist. Is this my vision for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention? No, it is not.
I also have friends who pray Calvinism and Calvinists will just go away. Is this my vision for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention? No, it is not. Either perspective is too extreme and will weaken our denomination. Either perspective also ignores a major stream in our historical identity. We are better than this. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is a well-constructed canopy under which varying perspectives on issues like Calvinism can peacefully and helpfully co-exist.
2. We need to let a biblical theology drive and determine our systematic theology. Any theological system runs the danger of becoming a master rather than a servant to the biblical revelation. This is true of any system of theology, whether it is Calvinism or Arminianism; Dispensationalism or Covenant Theology; Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy, or even some forms of Evangelicalism.
I believe the safeguard that will keep us from falling into this theological trap is to let a biblical theology drive, determine, and dictate our systematic theology. We must have a text-driven theological system. This will enable us to avoid those theological ghettos that may espouse a nice, neat theological system, but that do so at the expense of a wholesome, well-rounded, and comprehensive theology.
3. We need a revival of authentic expository preaching that will lead us to be genuine people of the book. Our denomination has suffered, and suffered terribly, because of the absence of true and authentic biblical exposition. Unfortunately we have a generation of preachers, good and godly men, who believe themselves to be expositors, when what they do in the pulpit betrays their confession. Too much of our SBC preaching sounds like the classic liberal Harry Emerson Fosdick who used the pulpit as a counseling office and a self-help seminar.
In the days ahead we must aggressively pursue a pulpit agenda of what I would call "engaging theological exposition." We must wed substance and style, content and delivery. We must teach the whole counsel of Scripture book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and word by word.
Authentic exposition will recapture the truth of Luke 24 that all of the Bible testifies to Christ. It will pursue this task in light of the Grand Redemptive Story of Scripture. Moralistic and self-help preaching will be set aside as weak and wholly inadequate in building healthy churches and healthy doctrine. Rather, we will preach the Bible in such a way that Jesus is always seen as the hero and Savior of sinners who cannot save themselves.
4. We need the balance of a Great Commission Theology. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 the apostle Paul makes a remarkable statement: "imitate me as I imitate Christ." I would submit to all of us that is exactly what we need to do as we join in an unbreakable and permanent union the twin disciplines of theology and missions. I am convinced that the greatest missionary and theologian who ever lived was Jesus. I believe the greatest Christian missionary and theologian who ever lived was Paul.
Let me ask a question for all of us to think about: Is your theology leading you to go to the nations , with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you building, where you serve, a Great Commission church? Do you pine for the salvation of the lost with the same zeal that you pine for theology? Good missionaries will be good theologians, and good theologians will be good missionaries.
5. We need to love and respect each other as brothers and sisters in Christ even though we are not in complete agreement on every point of theology.
We must never forget that it is not by a perfect theology that the world will know we are Christians. It is by the way we love one another. Approximately six months before he died I had lunch with Adrian Rogers in Memphis. We talked about the current state of the SBC, the conflicts and confusion. With his typical wisdom and insight he gave an analogy that captured perfectly where we are and why we are here.
During the Conservative Resurgence, Bible believing Southern Baptists stood shoulder to shoulder as we faced an enemy, theological liberalism, that would destroy us if given the chance. Minor differences in theology and methodology did not trouble us because our attention was directed towards our common enemy. Today, we do not find ourselves shoulder to shoulder on the battlefield. Now we are in the barracks looking face to face into each others eyes. Because many of us are in the habit of fighting, we are now fighting, not the real enemy, but one another. The real enemy is Satan, the world and the flesh. What we need to do is get back on the battlefield and engage once again our real opponent and adversary.
So, will we live or will we die? I make my choice for life in a passionate pursuit of the Great Commission. It is my hope and my prayer that you will join me.
[Reprinted from the Spring 2008 Outlook, the magazine of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Criswell’s “Whether We Live or Die” sermon is available on The Baptist Banner website: www.BaptistBanner.org. On the homepage scroll down to the blue links. Click “Articles from Past Issues”. Then click “Sermons and Addresses”. On the next page “Whether We Live or Die” is the third entry from the top.]